Hill-Murray’s title run didn’t start when the Pioneers arrived at Xcel Energy Center for the quarterfinals.

One could argue it started a few months earlier, at a post-Christmas meeting where the Pioneers coaches made it clear something had to change. They’d been off their game for a stretch — five of their six regular-season losses came from the end of December to the middle of January — and they had to turn it around.

“We had a very important, for lack of a better term, coming to Jesus moment,” said co-head coach John Pohl. “It’s a Catholic school, I can say that.”

“We called out every single girl up here in front of the team on video,” he continued, referencing seniors Ella Hornung, Kasey Senden, Regan Berglund and Josie Skoogman, who were sitting next to him. “Video doesn’t lie.”

And the girls were ready to receive the feedback they needed. After being “really carved” in that video session, the team’s only four seniors — all of them captains — were ready to help push their young team forward.

“In that meeting, we decided to get a jar and have everyone fill out a form with a focus of that day,” Senden said.

“Whether it was just being good teammates, having a good forecheck, crashing the net. Just buying in. And I think it helped.”

As her teammates sat with medals around their necks and unwavering smiles on their faces, it appeared Senden might have been right about that.

For Hill-Murray to make it past the reigning champion Edina Hornets, the whole team had to be on fire — and, in that double-overtime victory Saturday night, the Pioneers sure were.

The 5-4 nail-biter featured pucks from four different players hitting the back of the net, with three of those players tallying their first goal of the tournament. But that wasn’t always the case.

Before the title game, nine  of the Pioneers’ 10 goals in the tournament had come from three players — sophomores Emily Pohl, Jaycee Chatleain and Elliana Engelhardt, who made up the team’s “green line.”

Co-head coach John Pohl called them “as good as any line” after Friday’s win over Rosemount. And they were integral to Hill-Murray’s tournament run — but on Saturday night, the team’s depth shone through.

“You have to have a team to win at 2A,” Pohl said after Saturday night’s victory. “You can’t have one kid, you can’t have one line. You need a team. And we have a team.”

The Pioneers who logged goals in the title game were Regan Berglund, Gwynn Skoogman, Engelhardt and Ella Hornung — players spread across all three of the team’s lines.

“For us to get scoring from all three lines is amazing,” Pohl said. “If you had told me we would have given up four goals, I would not have thought we would have won. But every line contributed.”

According to high school league's records, this is the first year that both girls Class 1A and 2A state hockey finals have gone into overtime. Good news for neutral onlookers hoping for thrilling hockey. Maybe not for nervous family members of the players, or newspaper reporters hoping to file on a print deadline.

And for the skaters: That’s three long games of hockey over the span of three days.

“This is an incredibly hard tournament to win. Period,” Hill-Murray head coach John Pohl said after the Pioneers’ 5-4 overtime championship victory over Edina.

Warroad, Class 1A’s finalist, played a triple-overtime semifinal against Orono on Friday. Then, just over 24 hours later, the Warriors lost after 12 minutes of overtime, 4-3, to champion Dodge County.

“Hang in there long enough until someone makes a mistake, right? That was our game plan towards the overtimes,” Warroad head coach David Marvin said after the semifinals. “The group's been resilient.”

“I can't say enough about everybody for hanging in there,” added Marvin. “[Freshman] Lindsey Lorenson, being her first year, and [eighth-grader] Olivia Anthony, her first year, and [Linnea] Harren, she maybe had some cross-country legs.”

Edina and Hill-Murray’s championship was finally put to bed two minutes into double overtime by an Ella Hornung goal for the Pioneers.

“You’ve got to kind of fake yourself into feeling good, because both teams are tired and at that point, and it’s just going to come down to one lucky bounce at the end of the game,” Edina head coach Sami Cowger said. “We left that locker room, the energy was high, and buy-in, which is all we can ask for.”

Aside from an in-season tournament, albeit with lower stakes, there’s little to replicate the grind of Xcel’s pressure cooker. Even section tournaments span two weeks. So to skate off the ice with a trophy isn’t just a feat of talent, or luck, but of endurance — deep benches, gritty players and well-paced line changes. Not to mention, intentional nutrition, stretching and ice baths.

Hill-Murray, one of the more local teams just 10 miles from Xcel Energy Center, changed up from last year and did not stay at a hotel Wednesday night, Pohl said. 

“The girls got mad at me for it, but hopefully it was done to conserve some energy” and give them another night of normalcy at home," he said.

“What we learned last year is that to win this tournament, it is a physical, mental and emotional grind,” Pohl said.

It’s over, and this time the Hill-Murray Pioneers come out on top! Two minutes into the second overtime, freshman defender Addie McLay takes a long-range shot that senior forward Ella Hornung deflects past Reese McConnell. Hill-Murray wins its third state title and avenges its loss to Edina in last year’s championship game, just like Dodge County did earlier against Warroad.

One overtime later, we’re still even over here. The pace of play has gotten faster and more aggressive, but neither the Pioneers nor the Hornets have been able to send in the game-decider.

The crowd has been rising and falling with every close shot attempt, and there’s definitely been a couple. At 4:15 into OT 1, Pioneer Kasey Senden had the setup for quite the play — picking up the puck by the Hill-Murray goal, skating it all the way up the rink and getting off a clear-look shot. But that opportunity, the Pioneers’ only shot on goal all overtime, was swiped away by Edina goalie Reese McConell. The Hornets outshot Hill-Murray 5-1 in the extra period.

Time to move on and look forward — to OT 2! Buckle in.

We're 2-for-2 on overtime championship games today. Fans here at Xcel sure got their ticket's worth of hockey. Hill-Murray had a handful of last-gasp chances in the final few minutes, now outshooting the Hornets 21-20. But Edina's blue line kept the Pioneers' fast skaters away from net, and goalie Reese McConnell cleaned up the rest.

With just 3:41 left in the third period, it’s another tie game! The Pioneers and Hornets have been neck-and-neck all night, and as regulation starts to wind down, the speed is only winding up.

Jaycee Chatleain brought the puck up from the neutral zone, and a quick swipe to an open and waiting Elliana Engelhardt completed the play. A quick and game-changing goal from two members of Hill-Murray’s “green line” of sophomores who have been on fire this tournament.

According to the MSHSL, today's two championships had a combined attendance of 4,935 — one shy of the record since the championships began being sold as a combined ticket. The record total of 4,936 was set in 2020. That total includes Class 1A and 2A championships. Last year's finals had a crowd of 4,903.

It's the 30th anniversary of the tournament this year — for those interested, the first tournament in 1995 had 3,403 fans at the final. (And its winners, Apple Valley, were just featured on the Jumbotron, sitting together in a suite and waving in their yellow Eagles jerseys.) Ten years later, in 2005: 3,203 in attendance. The next year, the girls tournament moved from Ridder Arena to Xcel Energy Center. Then another decade later, in 2015: 3,912 fans.

Edina regains the lead with 1.7 seconds left in the second period! Senior Whitney Horton, a St. Thomas commit, gets a skate ahead of the Hill-Murray blue line after a pass from junior Brenna Prellwitz. Horton's close-range finish was her 18th goal this season.

Edina has outshot Hill-Murray 17-14 through two periods, trading the lead back-and-forth (and back again, in the Hornets' favor). 

Seventeen minutes to play, and with the rate these teams have been scoring, it's anyone's game.

Freshman forward Gwynn Skoogman carries the puck into the offensive zone and dekes two defenders on a great individual effort for her 11th goal this season, 3:07 into the second period. The Pioneers take their first lead of the night! 

After last game, we sang the praises of the Hill-Murray's “green line” of sophomores Emily Pohl, Elliana Engelhardt and Jaycee Chatleain. Now, it’s Skoogman and Regan Berglund on another line combining for all of the Pioneers’ three goals tonight. TBD on what their line’s color nickname is.